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When configuring your network within your home or office, it is important to know what tools to use. This involves understanding the terminology employed and how certain technologies work. A Linksys router, for example, can function as a proxy server for your network. This involves setting up the router to act as a gateway for local traffic. This means that, should the network service your local office, the Linksys router can serve as a proxy for all the computers connected.

Proxy Servers

Proxy servers serve as online services that allow computers an indirect connection to other network services, such as the Internet and other networked computers. Network traffic travels through the proxy server, which then may or may not perform some additional task before routing traffic. For example, the proxy server might save often-viewed web pages or censor web traffic directed to particular computers on the Internet. In any case, the server will be the only way in which certain computers can access Internet traffic.

Transparent Proxy Servers

The most basic proxy servers are "transparent" proxy servers. While some servers cache web pages for later viewing, or hide user information while the Internet is accessed, a transparent proxy server simply directs traffic between network computers. This means that computers on the network can see each other, share data and access shared resources through local IP addresses or computer names. On the local network, there may be little or no privacy in a transparent proxy system.

Accessing the Linksys Administration

Routers function as transparent proxy servers. In order to set up a Linksys router to function properly in this capacity, you must first access its administration panel. The administration panel is Web-accessible, meaning that you can access it from a Web browser on a computer attached to the local network. Simply enter "192.168.1.1" in your browser's navigation bar to navigate to the login page of the router. The default factory settings of Linksys routers leave the user name blank and use "admin" as the password.

Configuring the Router as a Proxy

Once in the administration window, click the "Setup" tab and ensure that the "Obtain an IP Automatically" is selected from the drop-down menu. Also, click on the "Administration" tab to enter a new user name and password for future access. Finally, click on the "Advanced Routing" tab, followed by the "Show Routing Table" button to display all computers using the router as a transparent proxy. Using these IP addresses, you can connect to any other computer on the network as long as they allow communications in some form, such as through SSH or FTP.